The overall level of violence and the consequent fatalities subsided significantly across Pakistan during the current week. However, the largest metropolis and the busiest harbor city of the country, Karachi, continued to seethe under the ethno-political violence perpetrated by the warring factions ´ wherein 22 people were butchered during the course of current week. The data collected (throughten newspapers that CRSS uses as the source) suggests that as many as 64 persons fell prey to the 34 incidents of violence across the country during the reported week (for detailssee data sheet).These violent incidents also left 62 people injured across the country.

During the week under review civilians were again the prime target of the ongoing violence across the country, as 60 percent of the total fatalities were of the civilians this week i.e. as many as 39 civilians were killed and 35 others wounded under different circumstances. Militants– causalities, mostly due to the clashes between military and militants in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), were the second major cause of deaths, wherein 15 militants were killed and another five got injured. Furthermore, unlike the preceding two weeks (last one of July and first one of August), when two US operated drone strikes killed 21 suspected militants in different areas of North Waziristan Agency (FATA), no CIA operated drone strikewas reported this week. Moreover a fragile calm was observed in the terrorist incidents, usually targeting state infrastructure or security targets. No significant sabotage activity was reported in any part of the country during the course of the week.

Contrary to the month of July, which saw scores of people becoming victims of sectarian target killings, no sectarian attack was witnessed across the country during this week. Moreover, casualties off target killings were down by seven percent, during the current week. Overall 50 percent of the total violent attacks wereof target killing in nature. The trend also suggests that the target killing remains responsible for the most number of deaths in the ongoing violent conflicts around the country (seethe pie chart below).

Furthermore, data shows that of the total 17 incidents of target killings, a staggering 47 percent took place in Karachi alone, with the killing of 10 people and the maiming two others. Militant casualties in the ongoing military operations in KP and FATA region plunged by 50 percent as seven militants got killed this week against last week 14. Overall militants– casualties accounted for just 23 percent of the total death toll. Meanwhile, 10 security personnel lost their lives and 22 others got injured as a result of clashes with the militants during the week.

Moreover, during the current week 14 dead bodieswere recovered from different parts of the country, 85 percent of them i.e. 12 of the total 14 were recovered from Karachi alone. In sum, the number of violent incidents declined considerably from last week 49 to 34 this week, the resultant fatalities, however plunged significantly from 90 to 64 during the current week. While the number of wounded dropped from 65 to 62 this week.

The data at hands and the trends of violence suggest that religio-political terrorism violence has declined considerably during the last two weeks ´ ostensibly because of the holy month of Ramzan. On the counter-terrorism front, a crucial development was reported during the week. As according to Wall Street Journal (WSJ), a joint operation, nick-named Tight Screw, to uproot sanctuaries of the Haqqani Network and the TTP in the North Waziristan was agreed upon between Pakistan and the US. Pakistani military officials, however, snubbed these reports, and denied agreement or understanding on an operation against militants holed up in North Waziristan ´ a long-standing US demand. Officials, however, underscored that operations against terrorists and their sanctuaries would continue.

Sources

1. The News
2. Dawn
3. The Express Tribune
4. Pakistan Today
5. Daily Times
6. The Frontier Post
7. Jang (Urdu)
8. Daily Mashriq (Urdu)
9. Aaj (Urdu)
10. The Nation